“Lorenzo? How is your ankle? Is it cracked or is it that bone spur that you struggle with?”
Having been in the room for only a minute, with the door closing behind him, leaving him trapped with this strange but formal man. Corvus had done nothing explicit short of asking Lorenzo to sit down on the closest chair that he had promptly did, but being asked about medical issues he was never aware of was an unsettling sensation.
“I am sorry, but what? What are you talking about?”
Within close proximity, it was easy to see that Corvus moved in a very slow, but meticulous way that had him almost gliding across the floor. His movements were as precise as his words. The outfit he wore was pristine and had Lorenzo looking down at his hand me down clothing that had been a lot of use well before he had been given them. Keeping his eyes turned down, Lorenzo raised his left leg and watched the blood slowly drip from his boot onto the pure white floor.
“Oh, I see. I am sorry, I have seen so many injuries that I forget sometimes why or when people come in here. Let’s get that foot handled, shall we?”
Lorenzo looked to Corvus had a neutral look to his features as he just stared in his direction. The man talked, and talked but he did not appear to be moving to fast as the two of them could hear the drops of floor splattering on the floor. Leg throbbing, Lorenzo eased his wounded foot back to the floor to sit in the slowly growing pool of blood.
“Well? Are you going to do something? You are a doctor, right?”
Going from neutrally bland to suddenly animated, Corvus exploded into animated movements, as he talked his hands gestured in a wide range of odd gestures.
“What me? A doctor? Oh no, you would not want me to work on you, would you? I would just as likely cut your foot off as to put a bandage on it. I am here to play a card game with you. The doctor has already seen you and should be ready to do something about… Ah yes, now.”
Two floor tiles pulled down into the floor to expose a complex work of mechanical parts that were to complex for Lorenzo to wrap his mind around what they did. Before his very eyes, parts moved, altered, and conformed into new shapes. The collection of parts slowly grew as they pushed up through the holes in the floor and encapsulated Lorenzo’s foot. He had been so mesmerized by the display that he did not gasp until he found his foot encased within the metal contraption.
Pulling over a small table from the wall, Corvus placed it next to Lorenzo. Leaving his side, he went and retrieved a chair and placed it across from Lorenzo before sitting down and pulling cards out of his pocket. Much like the man himself, the cards looked brand-new and perfect. Hands moving like an expert dealer in some casino or at least the movies with them in it that Lorenzo had seen before, Corvus shuffled the cards and dolled them out. Five cards sat in front of each man. Reaching out for his cards, Lorenzo stopped as Corvus tutted and waved his finger like an angry parent.
“Not yet. Do you even know what we are playing? My, you are spunky. I forgot how these meetings could go. You are so much fun, aren’t you?”
Raising his eyebrow, Lorenzo started to wonder if Corvus was insane, but his thoughts did not keep the man from continuing his rant.
“We are going to start out slow and go with high card. Do you know how that is played?”
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Shaking his head, Lorenzo cocked it to the side as he eyed the ten cards sitting before the two men.
“It is a simple game. We each pick a random card from one of the five cards before us and we make a bet, turn over our card and the highest card wins. Simple enough right?”
There had to be a trick to this. Lorenzo had heard the stories enough times about card sharks in bars that would play simple games but have them rigged. Corvus was throwing him off, the man felt off for some reason. It felt like he had just met, but something about him also felt familiar. Opening his mouth to say something, Corvus cut him off before Lorenzo could even utter a word.
“I will go first. I bet that if I win, you will tell me the first name of your father. Easy enough right? Now it is your turn to bet. What do you want from me?”
With such a simple bet, Lorenzo was put on his backfoot. Unsure if he should ask for information or something physical, he decided to try to take a risk.
“I want five credits. Can you give me that if I win?”
The grin Corvus gave Lorenzo had his blood run cold. He would have shivered but a whirring noise piped up from the mechanical boot that now contained his foot. Vibrations ran through his leg, and despite trying to pull his leg up, it was unable to move.
“Now we are getting somewhere. I just turned my card over and I have a two of clubs, what do you have?”
Looking at the table, Lorenzo swore he did not see the man turn his card over but it was sitting right there. The farthest right card was sitting face up where before it had been faced down. Unsure, but not seeing any reason not to play his card, Lorenzo turned over his card to find it was a four of hearts. As his card hit the table, Corvus’s hand slapped down on the table top with a loud clap. When the man pulled his hand away, there was a metal chip there that was worth five credits.
Eyes widening, Lorenzo picked up the chip and examined it. Having never seen a five-credit chip, he twirled it in his fingers. Once the newness of the chip had faded, Lorenzo quickly pocketed it and placed both hands on the table. Smiling, he said. “Thanks, that was a fun game but I wish to quit.”
Corvus’s finger waved in front of his face once more.
“The game is not done. Once you start, you cannot stop until we finish. I would hate for you to be a sore loser.”
Lips drawing to a line, Lorenzo sighed quietly but decided not to ruffle any feathers are he was new here and did not know where Corvus stood in the hierarchy on the ship. The bets ran from information for Corvus, to Lorenzo asking for things ranging from food and a new belt. Each time Lorenzo won and Corvus causally but quickly offered up the required bet. Coming to the last bet, and having won every single hand before, he was feeling cheeky. Lorenzo asked for a bet that was both dangerous but thrilling.
“Corvus, I want some of the captain’s clothes to replace my old ones I have on now. That is my bet for this round, what is yours?”
Throughout the game Corvus had been looking quite sour at each time he lost the bet. Losing four times in a row could do that to anyone and Lorenzo could understand how he must have felt. But the evil smile was back on Corvus’s face.
“I bet you that if I win, I get to keep your foot.”
Blinking, Lorenzo could not believe his ears. He had to have made a mistake on what Corvus wanted to win, so he had to ask and Corvus just nodded like the bet had been obvious. Hesitantly, Lorenzo placed his hand on the last remaining card that had yet to be over turned on his side. Swallowing, Lorenzo said. “I will let you go first. I want to see what I am going up against.”
Corvus smiled as his card was placed on the table. A king of hearts lay face up, looking almost like it was smirking at Lorenzo. Hand shaking, never once chickening out on things even when he knew bad things would happen, Lorenzo turned his card over. Closing his eyes before he saw the card, Lorenzo placed it face up on the table and waited for the bad news. When the silence was too much, he cracked an eye open to see the neutral features of Corvus looking down at his card and back up to Lorenzo.
“Well, it looks like you won kid. I will promptly get you the clothes in question. I am sure in time you might even grow into them.”
Standing up from the table, Corvus walked out the door of the medical room off to fetch the clothing as Lorenzo sat there shaking. Looking down at his last turned over card, the ace of hearts sat facing the sky. Laughing, unsure how to handle things, he pushed up with his free leg to find he could not stand up to cheer, locked into the chair by the mechanical contraption doing something to his leg below the table.